Leo's Disastrous Day

A loud beeping noise woke Leo. It was still dark. He looked at his clock; it was 4:30 a.m.. RK-5 was beeping on Leo's bedside table. Leo always turned off his little robot friend's power switch when he went to bed. Leo was puzzled by the noise because RK-5's power was still off.

Leo turned on RK-5's power and asked him about the noise.

“My tracking device has been remotel activated. Somebody wants to know where I am, ” explained RK-5.

“Who could it be? ” asked Leo. “And why do they want to know where you are?”

“It must be a Gendrozian—someone from my home planet of Gendroz. I don't know who. I don't know why, ” RK-5 replied.

The beeping stopped. Leo left RK-5's power on and turned off the bedroom lamp.

Leo tried to sleep. He couldn't because he was worried. He was worried that somebody would take RK-5 away from him. Eventually, Leo nodded off.

At breakfast the next morning, Leo was still thinking about the beeping sounds.

“What's the matter, Leo? ” asked Leo's dad. “You're very quiet this morning.”

“Oh, nothing. May I leave now? I have to meet my friends at the park.”

Leo's mother smiled. “Yes, if you've finished eating, but take your sister with you, ” said Mrs. Tompkins.

“Okay, ” said Leo. “Sam, let's go.”

They arrived at the park. Their friends were waiting for them at the big blue bench. Leo told his friends about the beeping in the night.

“It's probably nothing to worry about, ”said Lucy. “It may be an alarm to remind you that RK-5 needs oiling or something, ” suggested Andy.

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RK-5 interrupted, “Excuse me, I never need oiling. The noise was my tracking device. It beeps when someone is trying to find out where I am.”

“Well, it's not beeping now. Let's not worry about it, ” said Sam. “Let's go somewhere, ” she added. “It's the weekend.”

“Yes, ” said Kim, “let's go to Australia. There are great animals in Australia.”

“Yes, ” said Sam, “kangaroos and koalas.”

Leo asked RK-5 whether they could go to Australia. The little robot told him they could and gave Leo the code to press on his number pad.

Leo entered the numbers. Just as he finished, the beeping sound from the night before started again.

There was a flash of light and a cloud of yellow smoke.

When the smoke cleared, Leo was alone with RK-5. “Something has gone wrong. The smoke is usually blue, not yellow. My friends are not here. And this doesn't look like Australia!”

“The tracking device came on at the same time as the transporter, ” explained RK-5. “The interference caused it to malfunction.”

“But what about the others? Where are they? ” Leo asked frantically.

“They have been transported somewhere else. I do not know where. There was a malfunction, ” said RK-5.

Leo felt like crying, but he knew that it would not help. He had to think of a plan.

“Where are we now? ” he asked RK-5.

“I am able to answer that question, ”said RK-5. “We are on the planet Borth. This is where the tracking signals are coming from. Whoever is trying to find me is on this planet.”

“Did the beeping tracking signal bring us here? ” asked Leo.

“Yes, and the transporter sent your friends somewhere else, ” replied RK-5.

“Are you able to transport me back to Earth? ” asked Leo.

“I can take you back to Earth, but then I might not be able to find your friends. They may be lost forever, ” said RK-5. Leo was in a real fix. “How can I find out where my friends have gone? ” he asked RK-5.

“There is only one way, ” said RK-5.“We have to find Aplixa. She was the engineer who programmed all the RK-class robots.”

“There were ten RK-class robots. RK-1 was only for testing and never went into production. RK-8 was destroyed in a spacecraft accident. So there are just eight of us left, ” explained RK-5.

“Never mind about the history of robots. How can we find Aplixa? ” asked Leo. “Do you think she is sending the tracking signals?”

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“It could be Aplixa who is trying to find me, ” said RK-5. “But whoever it is will know how to find Aplixa.”

“I could set my reverse tracking, ”suggested RK-5. “Then we could find out who is sending the tracking signals.”

Leo agreed, and RK-5 turned on his reverse tracking. A lower beep tone came from RK-5. As Leo changed directions with RK-5 in his hand, the beeping got louder or softer.

Leo noticed for the first time that they were on a large step. The steps were arranged in a circle, like in a football stadium. They seemed to be made of a kind of red plastic.

Leo was pleased that the beeps were leading them up the steps rather than down. The steps went so far downward that he couldn't see the bottom.

At last, they reached the top step. All around, there were more circles. Some of them had steps that went high into a purple sky; others had steps that led down into bottomless pits.

Leo noticed that small doors and windows were spaced around the steps.

Leo and RK-5 followed the beeps up the steps of a large circular tower. When they were close to the top, the beeping became very loud in front of one of the doors.

Leo gave the door a push. It opened easily, and he crawled through.

Leo was surprised to find himself in the top of a tree. He looked down and saw that he and RK-5 were in a tropical rainforest.

The little door closed behind them and disappeared. Now when Leo looked up, there were no circles—just purple sky.

Leo made sure that RK-5 was safely tucked in his pocket. Then he grabbed onto a vine and swung from tree to tree, just like Tarzan. RK-5's beeping guided him.

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Leo saw something shining in the distance. He stopped to get a better look. It was a huge glass ball as tall as the trees.

Leo continued to swing from tree to tree. He wanted a closer look at the ball.

Leo reached a tree right next to the top of the ball. He looked down through the glass. He saw people inside, but they were not humans. He asked RK-5 whether he knew who they were.

“They are from my planet, ” said RK-5.“They are Gendrozians.”

“Do you see Aplixa? ” asked Leo.

“No, ” replied RK-5. “But I do see the evil Oznox. And look what he has in front of him.”

Leo looked down and saw seven little robots. They looked just like RK-5. They were trapped in glass cases.